Human Health And Disease Question 73
Question: The drug “Heroin” is obtained from the plant of which of the following family?
Options:
A) Leguminosae
B) Papaveraceae
C) Liliaceae
D) Solanaeae
Show Answer
Answer:
Correct Answer: B
Solution:
Opium is the name for the latex produced within the seed pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, belongs to Papaveraceae.
The plant is believed to have evolved from a wild strain,
Papaver setigerum, which grows in coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.
Through centuries of cultivation and breeding for opium, the species somniferum evolved. Today, P.
somniferum is the only species of Papaver used to produce opium.
Opium contains morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine. Heroin is an opiate, produced from morphine.
BETA
